Throughout 2023 we have listened closely to our partners, healthcare providers,  clinicians and patient stakeholders responding to their needs with our ongoing investments in talented people and product development. We are delighted to have seen this succeed with the expansion of our partnerships and the brilliant response from clinicians and patients to our technology. Here are just a few of our 2023 highlights:

Building the Happitech ecosystem

We are reaching more patients than ever through our partnerships with remote patient monitoring and virtual ward platform providers.  Our long-standing relationships with Huma and Luscii have been bolstered by new partnerships with Ortus-iHealth - specialists in cardiology pathways, Buddy Healthcare extending our reach into Finland and BT Healthcare with a focus on primary care in the UK.

Happitech is integrated seamlessly into our partners’ health platforms and patient-facing apps to extend the care of patients beyond the traditional hospital and clinic settings and free up clinicians to focus on patients with the greatest needs.

The Happitech Team exhibiting at the 2023 Netherlands Heart Research Association Conference

We've established a clinical panel to guide our product development and clinical evidence generation. We’ve been humbled by the generosity and enthusiasm of our panellists, who are world leaders in their fields of cardiology research and practice, to share their knowledge in support of our mission and vision.

The patient-first focus of the Happitech interface delights patients and ensures repeated engagement. High-quality heart health data viewed via our clinician-facing dashboard makes it easy for clinicians to see the bigger picture, personalise care, and offer remote support to improve patients’ experience of care and outcomes.

Growing our Clinical Evidence base:

We’ve continued to build our evidence base in clinical research in hospital and community settings. The ongoing Dutch GERAF multicentre study utilises our PPG technology in smartphones for the opportunistic screening of 1250 elderly patients for atrial fibrillation.  Early results were published this year demonstrating that the elderly are willing and able to use eHealth applications on a smartphone to detect their heart rhythm and can do this without clinical supervision.

Happitech's PPG Technology was validated in a new Heart Rate Variability Study comparing it against traditional Electrocardiogram (ECG) methods where results revealed PPG via smartphone as a reliable alternative to ECG making real-time HRV assessment more accessible and convenient.

Happitech has new studies underway in the US establishing the viability of PPG in community settings and its effectiveness with a wide variety of skin tones.

Real-world impact, finding at-risk patients early:

Every day Happitech is detecting more and more new cases of atrial fibrillation in previously undetected patients.

In the Netherlands,  Happitech is active in more than a dozen leading cardiac centres monitoring close to 10,000 patients.  Under the leadership of electrophysiologist, Dr Jippe Balt, Sint Antonius Cardiology won the best quality award from the Dutch National Heart Registry for showcasing the effectiveness of delivering virtual care for post-AF Ablation patients using Happitech heart health monitoring integrated into the Luscii remote patient monitoring platform. 

Dr Jippe Balt (far left), St Antonius Hospital receiving the 2023 Quality Award from Dutch National Heart Registry

In 3 of the UK’s leading cardiology hospitals, Happitech is integrated into remote patient monitoring platforms and health apps to deliver hardware-free, remote, heart health monitoring for virtual cardiology pathways.

The impact of our early detection is set to extend beyond the hospital setting.  Launching soon is the landmark Dutch Check@Home research project. Targeting 160,000 people between the ages of 50 and 75 the project aims to detect the early development of cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and diabetes type 2. Happitech will provide every participant with a heart rate and heart rhythm check, via the Luscii app, to detect potential cardiovascular problems such as atrial fibrillation or elevated heart rate.

Engaging with world-leading cardiologists:

As a team, we have presented the Happitech at many science, health technology, cardiology and specialist heart rhythm events across Europe and the US including HRX in the US, NHRA in the Netherlands, HRC in the UK.

Perhaps our highlight was to be proud to exhibit throughout the 4-day European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Annual Congress.

The Happitech Team exhibiting at ESC 2023 in Amsterdam

We’ve also launched a new podcast - The Smarter Heart - showcasing conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers at the intersection of cardiology and digital health.

Throughout all these events, listening to speakers and presenters and talking with partners and colleagues in cardiology and the MedTech industry it was clear that digital health innovations are top of mind as a means to reduce healthcare inequalities and improve access to the right care at the right time for all patients.

Awards & recognition:

We are delighted to see that Happitech’s leadership and innovation in digital health and cardiology have been reflected in several awards, including Rising Star in the Health Equity Category, awarded by The Digital Health Hub Foundation at the prestigious med tech conference HLTH. We were selected from amongst many other digital health startups and scale-ups to participate in the US-based MedTech Innovator Accelerator learning and sharing experiences with other start-up participants in these programs.

Strengthening the Happitech Team:

Throughout the year we have continued to make investments in great people in product, engineering, commercial and marketing. We’ve refreshed our brand and updated our website design and content to reflect this.

We’ve strengthened our board with the appointment of Ken Nelson - a 20-year veteran of the cardiac medical devices market. Ken has led commercial efforts in this market for disruptive digital health, wearables and remote patient monitoring for three of the top market share players. We’re delighted to welcome his expertise to our board.

Appointment of Ken Nelson (right) to Happitech Board by Yosef Safi Harb Happitech CEO (left) at LSI Emerging MedTech Summit

Looking back at 2023,  we are incredibly proud of the hard work of Happitech’s brilliant team in getting to this point of delivering technology with true impact. As ever, we remain in awe of our partners and clinicians working with us to build heart health solutions that will transform the early detection and monitoring of cardiovascular disease in the future.

Thank you to all of Happitech’s friends and supporters. We wish you all a restful holiday season and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Yosef Safi Harb, CEO and Founder on behalf of all of us at the Happitech Team